Krispy Kritters....

hi guys....
I'm feeling stressed and quite frankly, I can id myself as geing kinda burned out...
Work, School, Relationship... at the same time... what sort of crazy idiot am I for attempting all this stuff...

I made a mistake while looking at my schedual, and ended up not showing up at work one day about 2 weeks ago... which I understand is a cardinal sin... and I do accept the suspension... I'm just really kinda mad b/c I called the floor, and asked one of the staff members if i was on the assignment sheet for the next day, and they told me no, when I was actually on... and,...I missed the stupid day, BY ACCIDENT... and, when I had to talk to mgmt, I was wrong for calling the floor, I should have called staffing, (whos listing is often more screwed up than the floors...)
grr... and, they kept acting like it was on purpose...GEEZ... if it was on purpose, you think I'd willingly go and accept my punishment, or go and make a stink of it...grr.

I dread every day I have to go to work... every day is a mess with about 10 or 11 train wrecks to deal with with one aide...who's always ******* dissapeared... (every night, mgmt staffs me with the same aide... the one I request not to be staffed with b/c she's a horror to deal with...)

I start my school by leaving my house at 5:30 AM to go to school, which I dont get back from until about 1:30 or 2.... by 2:30 the latest I gotta go to work...which lasts until 11:30, or more likely 12:30...sometimes later... And this is M-F... I dont rest, I dont sleep... And, I'm not cutting school out of my life...
I see my boyfriend once a week, if I'm lucky, and now, I'm not even sure if that will be the case for much longer... (he got laid off, and if he doesnt find a job soon, he's going to return to his hometown... which is 6 hours away....and, why... b/c he wont have enough money to pay his rent, and I wish I could keep him here, but I live at home and my parents arent too keen on him...)

'My walls are crumbling' is a song lyric...
it fits life right now....
I gotta go to work but I dont want to...
I got this nagging feeling I'm gonna get dumped on again... and quite frankly... I have nobody to c/o to b/c the mgmt is doing this to me.. and the ADN who's on this month doesnt like me(she tried to mandate me when I was on disability... and I called in the union, and now, she hates me... shooting me daggars, and talking about me to other nurses...)

And no one called you to see where you were or if you OK?! You were scheduled to come in to work and no one called you to be sure you hadn't turned your car over in a ditch on the way in?! That's abominable.

There have been times (rare, but they happen) where someone has misread their schedule and not showed up for work...hey, if someone is 15 to 20 minutes late for their shift and they're normally on time, we're calling their house to be sure they're ok (and to see where they are!). If they answer and go OOOPSS!!! and come on in, it's not a big problem. The person who they are following may not be too happy since they can't leave until they get there but hey, we get over it. I can only recall this happening maybe twice but no one got suspended (they did come in, late, once they realized they had misread in their schedule).

I agree with Zee. I overslept once (supposed to be there at 7am). I got a "wake up call" at exactly 7:08am. Granted I'm usually on the unit by 6:45, so by then they knew something was up. But even the people that walk in at 7, we don't wait any later that 7:15 to call their house.

Sounds like someone might have been setting that one up. Do they call they other people when they don't show up or are running late?

Heather

May 10, '02

Happened to me once - I didn't know the schedule had been changed- nursing supervisor tried to call me, got a busy signal repeatedly, and when he had the operator check the line, I had just hung up so it was reported as no one on the line. Being the imaginative sort, he concluded that someone must have mugged me and left me on the floor so he called the police! I was sitting innocently in my living room when cop cars all pull up - and all my neighbors (who all have scanners - small boring town) all show up to see what's happening! After all the public embarrasment I started rechecking the schedule DAILY!

May 10, '02

I hate to admit it, but it has happened to me THREE times in the past 9 months and I'm fairly new at my job. One time it was a class that i just spaced, another time I was 3 hours late and one time my manager wrote the worng time and everyone thought I was to show up at 11am, lots of surprise when I arrived on time at 10:50. Oddly, it didn't affect my evaluation at the six month mark, no one even mentioned it. Guess we are just short staffed, but it sounds like the entire environment is not very positive. Have you thought about a new job??

May 10, '02

Barbara, It sounds like your workplace is not very supportive of you. You have a right to gripe! Do find another job where they will treat you better. When they don't call you to find out why you aren't there (on a shift you're supposed to be working); when they continually schedule the aide from he!! who you've asked NOT to work with; when you dread going to work EVERY DAY; IT IS TIME TO FIND A NEW JOB WHERE THEY WILL APPRECIATE YOU! I know, your life seems so complicated already and the idea of starting a new job may seem overwhelming; but you may find that things are much better when you enjoy going to work.

May 12, '02

*sigh... I'd love to find a new job... but, thanks to my lovely school schedual, I cannot do the standard orientation.... as in, I cant do days...thanks to school...

Apparantly, they 'tried' to get me, but chose to call my house, and not my cellphone... which they continually call for staffing purposes.... and the killer... the dayt I was suspended, they called me about 4 times to see if I could work...

Literally, i told them to bite me.(not in those exact words, but you get the drift)

I agree with Jenny P and Heather! Even if they did they to call your home...sounds like someone didn't want to reach you....and I would have tried all avenues to get hold of you. Just the other nite an aide didn't come in, and we called several numbers to reach her. When we didn't reach her at the home number she had listed..and reached an ex-husband, we asked for her cell number.

I also have thought I was off and got the call at home...as to where was I. I was sick that day...and barely had any voice at all...but came in...because I knew they would be short otherwise! But the schedule had been changed and unknown to me that it was. So after the that I checked it everytime before I left work. Even on this contract...the NM put out the schedule late, (on Friday)... I had worked 3 12's, and thought I would be off on Sunday...as I had worked my required 36hrs. If I hadn't looked at the schedule I wouldn't have known she had scheduled me for overtime on Sunday... without asking me! If I hadn't worked that Saturday and checked the schedule...I wouldn't have never known I was supposed to be working!

As for starting another position and not being able to go through the orientation....I would ask to be oriented on the off shift as a condition of employment! I have done this in the past...and had no problem getting this done. I don't see why you would have a problem....as it seems to me to be better to orient a person on the shift they're going to work anyway! Worth a try at least...rather than dealing with what you're having to put up with now! Where you're at now...doesn't appear to be good for your mental health....and changing would probably help tremendously all the areas of your life!
Ummm..... bagladyrn...your situation....was kinda of wild..

Last edit by Brownms46 on May 12, '02

May 13, '02

You might not be able to get a new job, but you may be able to transfer to another floor, that way you miss the 4-5 days of "hospital orientation" which usually don't give much inof as it is. Good Luck.

May 13, '02

Oh Barb, hope you are feeling better by now. I missed this thread before ...for some reason though it was to do with bar-b-ques or somehing! Hmmmm, musta missed something.

Geez they sure are harsh where you work, we have people sleeping in ALL the time and we just ring em!!! It is unheard of here to get a "suspension" for anything, short of killing someone really. I agree with everyone that these colleagues are neither supportive or caring.Shame on them!!

Barb, hope you find a solution soon, hopefully in the way of a new job for both you and your man.

Sending good thoughts your way

Last edit by aus nurse on May 13, '02

May 13, '02

Barb, how was your attendance to begin with? Suspension is pretty rough for missing one day's work, even if it was no-call, no-show.
As Heather said, and in reference to the fact that they usually call you on your cell phone, you may want to consider the possibility that you were set up, if your attendance is good.
Also, Heather, I had the same thing happen to me in my ER, that you did. I simply overslept one day, and they were calling the house. They said that since I was always on time, they worried that I'd had an accident or something. We usually gave folks until quarter after the hour (in case of traffic, etc.), and then began calling to check on them.

May 13, '02

honestly, I do think I was set up...(didnt really want to go that way thanks to libel and whatnot...)
I'm definately not one of the 'in crowd' nurses on the floor... why? I keep to myself, the people I do hang with are the other outcasts... (basically, I hang with a few of the older women nurses AIDES.... which i think is a part of it...most of the nurses want nothing to do with the aides, and I think that there should be a good rapport if nothing else...I personally think friendship is good, as long as its a good person... even the people I cant stand, I treat fairly and equally... I just dont go out drinking with them after work.)
Also.... this I thought was a kinda moot point until recently... but, I have been the youngest person with a lot of time on the floor.. I've been doing quite well in work and in school... most of the other nurses are old enough to be my mother.... which doesnt really bother me.... but the way they talk about how their kids are so horrible (running away on a whim, coming home drunk/stoned and underage... all the kids pregnant and unmarried... et al), and then, I'm fameously given stabbing daggar looks....
once in my time here at the lovely hospital, I thought, gee, maybe If I wore the designer scrubs, the ugly fake nails, painted up my face with outrageous colors, and dyed my hair blond, and go to St Guido's church of the holey rosary every sunday, I'd like fit in(and it'd be SOO AWESOME!!grr)....
then, Reality smacked me upside the head....
so... I wear the cheapies that I can afford, go plain and simple, and keep my hair colored bright red... (wasnt always red... this is recent, and it suits my out of work personality better) and I keep my religion to myself... (not that that stops people from callling me the devil worshipper behind my back) And a blessing from the lord and lady to you, too....

grr... oh... hospital policy says that I'm stuck on my floor for a Year after suspension...
and... there are no other floors with openings for the LPN... basically, I gotta wait for one of the other 3 or 4 LPN's to kick the bucket, then pray that I have enough time in here to get the position...if they even keep it...

Sigh... I've got a headache... thank god, I dont have to go in tonight...
--Barbara

May 13, '02

Originally posted by Yeti1313LPN and I keep my religion to myself... (not that that stops people from callling me the devil worshipper behind my back)